Tinker Memorial Day

I've been hard at work lately, but I wanted to make a post because it's Tinker Memorial Day.  Exactly 1 year ago my little sister Tinker passed away, and today we celebrate all that is Tinker!  She was an amazing little friend and sister and my whole childhood, youthhood, and the start of my adult hood we spent hanging out.  I miss her daily but every time I use my computer I get to see her picture on my desktop and it always brightens my day.  I could easily post tons of pictures on here but I'll just give you a sample and you can see the rest in my Picasa.

Ali, Niki, and I went to the temple today co-incidentally to do some "bye bye" ceremonies (they didn't know it was Tinker Memorial Day, but I like to think it wasn't a coincidence).  It was a very nice and peaceful time where I had the opportunity for silence and reflection and to say some prayers for my loved ones and to ask for blessings.

The temple we went to had 5 praying "stations" where you pray, put an incense stick into an urn, and then move on to the next "station".  Each station I dedicated to someone different: Tinker, Eliza's mom, my parents, Eliza and I's relationship, my career.

After the prayer stations we went to a tower with an area for burning paper inside.  We tossed paper money in that is sent to our ancestors and to buddha.

When we left the temple there was a super cute little white doggie running around the parking lot and I took it as a definite sign that Tinker was there with us.

In dedication of her I have uploaded our slideshow that we created last year at her funeral.  I'd like to give myself and my parents access to these photos from anywhere at anytime :)  http://picasaweb.google.com/justinliebregts/Tinker

We love you Tink!